Weather Report

It rained Saturday.

Claire’s parents were out of town. She went by their house, and both the Wall Street Journal and the El Paso Times were on the driveway, unwrapped. That’s how I came into possession of a slightly soggy dead tree El Paso Times.

Gannett bought the Times. The online format is different. More like Gannett’s flagship, USA Today.

And though I guess every story in print migrates to the EP Times website, not every story is easy to find.

Like this story about the guy shot by police on Dyer last month. Apparently, he killed himself.

An autopsy determined that a man shot and killed himself during a confrontation with El Paso police in the Lower Dyer area last month.

El Paso County Medical Examiner Dr. Mario A. Rascon declared that Charles E. Bertram, 22, fatally shot himself in the chest, according to an autopsy report obtained Friday.

“The manner of death is suicide,” the autopsy report states.

Bertram died Aug. 6 after allegedly taking out a handgun during a traffic stop in the 4000 block of Dyer Street, El Paso police officials had said.

Well, that’s curious. Why didn’t the police say he cashed his own ticket right after it happened?

The autopsy results were timed to make the Saturday paper, a technique used to reduce the impact of potentially controversial stories. Saturdays are the editions with the lowest circulation, and if a story is read at all, it can be forgotten by the time the water cooler talk starts again on Monday.

I found that story on the website by typing “police shooting” in the search box. Maybe there’s a better way to negotiate the new website. I’ll keep looking.